Escrime

During the Rarity sequence in the Pony Pokie song:

-Between shots Rarity's tiara goes from sitting neatly on her head level with her ears (front on shots) to floating halfway up her horn (side on shots) and back.

-Said tiara then vanishes for a moment but reappears when Rarity gets angry with Blueblood.

Let's see... PhD thesis to work on; real ponies to ride (well, I spose "pony" isn't the right way to describe two 16hh TBs, a 15hh half-mad standardbred gelding and assorted other horses); a few fencing comps to bout at (and hope to send a certain arrogant arsehole down); this and another MLP RPG to keep up with; try to get back into fiction writing (not necessarily MLP fan fic... also got ideas for a fan fic for S&M Stirling's Peshwere Lancers); cider to drink; Series 1 to rewatch; etc.

Yeah, I've got plenty to do...

Not really sure about MLP:FIM fanfics... there's a lot of good ones out there but I can't decide which one's the best.

Of older ponyfics... Cast Shadows by Marbletoast (completely original fan-verse with a dose of grimdark) and Birth of Dreams by DarkCrescent (a pre-history of the G1-verse).

I have two really long ones from the same person I believe. there really great but I think one takes place in G2 and another in an alternate world.

Royal Destiny

Worlds Apart

I'm fairly certain those are by two different authors.

Worlds Apart... epic length but let's be honest, serious Sue-age on the lead character (that said, despite the Sue-dose the writer has also done some brilliant art based on her fanfic). And I wouldn't be suprised if the Brony-horde would form a lynch mob over the preemptive use of the name "Princess Luna" on said Sue.

Brilliant ep! Loved Psychoshy and the musical numbers were good. Still, this may mean some reinterpretation of RP chars (notably teh_Brawler's Price Astron who used Blueblood's build, colours and cutiemark way before we found out his name and rather objectionable personality... I wonder, will we require Astron be reworked to make him into Blueblood or allow the two near identical ponies to be played in parallel).

Something small I noticed in the first song sequence:

Fluttershy has an admirer!

Edit to add:

Spitfire is sooooo AWESOME!!!!!!!

And where there's a Spitfire there must be a Messerschmitt in need of shooting down.

[[i've been slow again... been away over Easter.]]

Esc gave a laugh on hearing the juvenile dragon's tale. It was a thoroughly entertaining story... and something told him the flying instructor had deserved it.

He listerned to the dragon's comment on her father's work, before he replied:

"I should... your father is one of the few smiths I trust to make these blades."

With some effort Esc got the bag of fencing blades out of the cart and onto his back.

"I would like to stay and talk longer" he explained to the dragon "but unfortunatly I have to get moving. Perhaps I'll catch you next time I'm here."

Escrime turned and walked out the door before heading back to his fencing school.

[[Afraid I've got to bow out of this thread now... I'm going to a conference next week, so things are kinda hectic]]

Escrime couldn't help but wince when the dragon mentioned her art for real candy... he imagined it would hurt a lot and the dental bill wouldn't be nice either.

"That cannot have ended well..." Esc commented when the dragon finished talking about her 'chocolates'

He waited a moment while she found the bill. Once the dragon handed it to him Esc quickly read it... it looked in order, perhaps a little more expensive than he had expected but not too bad. He then spent a moment fumbling through his saddle-bag for the necessary gold-bits before tossing the cash the dragon's way.

"Thank you... here's my payment."

Just a little advanced warning: I'll be attending a conference in early May, so will be unavalible to RP then (30 April-7 May oceanography conference in Boston USA... conference itself is four days but add in flight time and a day for jet lag recovery) and I'll also be a bit busy between now and then getting my presentation and extended abstract ready.

[[Again, sorry for my slow reply]]

"Thank you." Escrime answered as the young dragon disappeared into the back room. Taking her advise he walked over and had a closer look at the chocolates.

He picked up one from the middle tray before grabbing a second from the top tray... he noticed the difference in weight and examined the 'chocolate' from the middle tray. Though it looked convincing it was certainly much too hard to be a confectionery.

The Dragon reaapeared with the finished blades.

"Thanks for that." Esc replied, before enquiering "Now how much was my order? Oh, and nice work on the 'chocolates' by the way."

"Again thank..." Esc said just too late as the mare turned and headed to the counter. He stopped a moment and had another quick flip through the manuscript... just to be extra certain he had found all of it.

Then he turned to go and pay... and found Damsel waiting. He listened to her enquiry.

"It's a couple of streets down from here." he answered, before adding "It is kind of discrete... I try not to attract too many would-be duelists... but just look for a sign with two crossed smallswords -like my cutie mark."

He briefly turned to the bookseller and asked:

"So, how much do you want for this book?"

The bookseller turned and grabbed his notebooka nd set out looking for the price for the 'Art of Defense'. WHile he was doing so Esc turned back to Damsel.

"And yes, feel free to drop by whenever you want."

One I'll mention: Ticket Master, during Pinkie Pie's impormptu 'bribe' party for Twilight. There's a blue unicorn with a saddle on first time they toss TS into the air... when she comes down the blue unicorn has lost her saddle and moved place.

"And it has been a pleasure to meet you, too, Damsel." Esc replied as the Unicorn mare returned to searching through the piles of books.

Esc continued searching, but as an Earth Pony it was slow going, so he had made little progress when Damsel found the rest of the manuscript. He watched as she reassembled and rebound the manuscript. Esc had a quick flick through the manuscript to check they had found it all... there were no obvious missing pages.

"Thank you, Damsel" he answered "you have been a great help. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

[[sorry I've been a bit slow again... lack of inspiration and things I've had to get done were getting in the way]]

"Ah... sorry for neglecting to introduce myself properly, miss Damsel." Esc replied to the mare's intoduction "My name is Escrime... and, well, I have already told you something of my career, so there's no reason to repeat it."

He paused a moment and had another look of the pages the unicorn mare had found.

"yes... turns out it is the right manuscript... but it is incomplete. Hopefully the rest of it is around here somewhere." he commented before he returned to searching.

My Escrime and Meow's Damsel seem to be getting on quite well... look like they'd make a good pair.

Must be something about Esc and cream-coloured unicorns: in an iteration of him on another Pony RP (the Highland Mists, once part of the C'03 MLP RP interconnected-sites for those who've been involved in the MLP community for awhile) his former love also matched a similar description (of cause, Esc and Seablad ended up on different sides of the war and now hate each others guts...).

Escrime noticed that Damsel had stopped using her telekinesis. He guessed easily enough that his words of discontent over his past treatment had caused it, and he wanted to say he was fine with her using her powers -getting promoted beyond one's abilities because of a horn or wings was something he seriously objected to, but he had never felt there was any problem using one's natural abilities- but before he could the mare had moved onto other topics.

"Oh, yes, I teach a fair few ponies..." he replied to her enquiry about his business "... mainly those with a love of the sport, but I also occasionally get those who have got themselves entangled in 'an affair of honour' and need some more education to survive the resulting duel."

Then Damsel stumbled across the pages. Escrime immediately came over and had a look.

"The style looks right..." he replied "... but this page is unfamiliar. I have only seen one other copy of the book and did not have enough time to read it in full... still, it suggests we are on the right path."

He paused a moment before continuing: "I thank you for your help, miss."

Quite an entertaining episode... liked Pinkie's antics a lot.

Edit: I don't think I buy the Pinkie=hallucination hypothesis in general (perhaps some scenes of this episode...)... if Pinkie wasn't real how'd the party in the first episode come around?

"Yes... it should be an interesting book..." Esc answered "... it is suppose to be one of the classics on the weapon it deals with."

He paused a moment.

"And, yes..." he continued in reply to Damsel's second question "... I am something of a swordspony. Served in the royal army for a decade and a half but never got promoted as far as I should have..." a slight hint of bitterness crept into his voice "... Celestia and the Generals always seemed to have a preference for unicorns and pegs as senior officers over Earth ponies."

"Anyway, I retired from that eight year ago and started a fencing school here in Canterlot."

He stopped and listerned to the unicorn's guess about the book's whereabouts.

"Thank you." Esc answered before heading for the nearest disorganized pile of books.

[[Had intended to reply earlier... but got a little tied down doing stuff at uni (computing Ekman transport from velocity profiles is proving a nuisence), so sorry]]

The mare's words did something to soften Escrime's attitude to the shopkeep: Esc's age was beginning to tell, he as no longer as quick and nimble as he had been... and so, he could sympathise a bit with the shop owner. Still, there was only so far this would shift his view... from useless idiot to senile old codger.

Esc turned his attention back to the mare.

"Ahh... sorry, I am afraid I do not know..." he answered "...I was unable to find out before I came to look for it. Anyway, it should be a fairly old book, around a hundred year I think and it is entitled 'The Art of Defense'. It should have several pages of old woodcut prints of swordfights if that will help."

Esc turned away and had another look throught a nearby bookcase.

Escrime

Male Earthpony, middle aged, resident in Canterlot.

Threads:

A Day in Canterlot - finished

Rocked and Waiting - active

For a moment after the collision Escrime's ears went flat... showing his short-lived anger. Escrime backed away a couple of paces before briefly looking the unicorn over... turned out she was quite a good looking young mare.

"No need for you to apologize...I am sorry, miss, I should have looked where I was going." Esc replied after the mare asked him to pardon her.

The mare offered her assistance... for a moment Esc considered declining her offer but decided that actually it'd be easier to find the book with some help.

"Thank you, miss." he answered, before continuing: "I am looking for an old manuscript on swordplay that is meant to be somewhere around here. Unfortunately, the shopkeep was little help... I am honestly not sure if he is quite right in the head."

Escrime

The tall blue Earth Pony pushed his way through the crowd with one goal in mind. It was one of Escrime's rare days off... not that it meant much: he may not have been taking one of the regulars for a bout with foil or teaching some poor fool the basics of swordplay in the hope said fool wouldn't get skewered in the duel he or she had got themselves into, but he was still busy. Today in particular he was in search of a book... he'd heard talk that a local bookseller had come across an old manuscript entitled 'The Art of Defense', describing old techniques for the backsword. Naturally enough the combination of cold steel and history had caught Esc's interest...

He reached the shop, entered and spent a moment talking to the bookseller...

"Good-day, I heard you found an old book entitled the 'Art of Defense'... could I have a look at it?" Esc enquired.

"You wanna buy it?" The shopkeep answered.

"Perhaps... could you tell me where it is?"

"Somewhere over there." the bookseller answered while vaugly waving his right foreleg towards one of the shelves.

"Thank you" Esc answered in an attempt to be polite... his thoughts ran on quite a different course: this pony was useless.

Anyway, he set off to look through the jumble of bookcases in the hope he'd be able to find the book... One bookcase down, no sign. Another bookcase, still nothing. A third, this was getting irritating.

He turned a corner and quite literally bumped into an ivory coloured filly...

[[Hope it's okay to grab non-player characters for a moment when needed]]

Gooday, fresh-newbie.

*Bump*

He's ready for consideration.

Name: Escrime (frequently known as Esc)

Gender: Male

Age: Stallion - middle aged

Species: Earth Pony

Pelt Color: Dark Blue

Mane/Tail Color & Style: Red and Gold (also red feathering around hooves)

Eye Color: Green

Cutie Mark: Two crossed smallswords

Physique: Tall, otherwise average build

Residence: Canterlot

Occupation: Fencing Master

Motivation: A love and high degree of skill at the sport of fencing and other forms of swordplay.

Likes: The sport of fencing, duelling, western swords (Smallsword, Backsword, Epee, Sabre and the like), history, good looking mares and wine.

Dislikes: Zebras, Katanas ("Give me a proper Sabre any day... not that Eastern junk")

Character Summary:

Born in the town of Hoofington to a minor noble family, Esc was introduced to the sport of fencing at a young age. Having mastered the sport and discovered his cutie-mark he soon developed an interest in other forms of swordplay. Naturally enough a small town like Hoofington didn't offer many opportunities for this and once he came of age he moved on. After a few years travelling he joined Equestria's army (Out of character: assuming of cause there is more than just the Pegasi guards... otherwise this bio will be in need of a big overhaul) and spent around two decades as a junior officer. Upon leaving the army he settled in Canterlot and opened a Fencing school.

Personality-wise, Escrime has an acute sense of chivalry but is also moderately arrogant. In his youth he had a habit of challanging likely opponents to duels, but wiht his increasing age and old injuries he's less likely to do that nowdays. In addition to his loves of swords Esc is also firmly interested in history and is fairly well read on the subject.

Image courtesy of my friend Naiefae

Escrime aka Chris here. I'm an Oceanography PhD student and got sucking into Ponies a few years back now... been loving FIM.

Not sure if I'll end up RPing here (I've been involved in another Pony RP for quite a while, but it's been kinda quiet the last few weeks).